Eastern Front

World War II

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Adolf Hitler reviewing troops on the Eastern Front, 1939.

Heinrich Hoffmann, Munich

In the Battle of Stalingrad (1942–43), the advancing Germans were finally stopped by the Red Army in desperate house-to-house fighting. From The Second World War: Allied Victory (1963), a documentary by Encyclopædia Britannica Educational Corporation.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

In June 1941, German armoured divisions roll deep into the Soviet Union, but by winter they find their supply lines stretched thin and the Soviets determined to fight. From The Second World War: Triumph of the Axis (1963), a documentary by Encyclopædia Britannica Educational Corporation.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

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history of World War II

For the campaign against the Soviet Union, the Germans allotted almost 150 divisions containing a total of about 3,000,000 men. Among these were 19 panzer divisions, and in total the “Barbarossa” force had about 3,000 tanks, 7,000 artillery pieces, and 2,500 aircraft. It was in effect the largest and most powerful invasion force in human history. The Germans’ strength was further...

...the garden. The “strategy” of Hitler’s successor, Dönitz, was one of capitulation and of saving as many as possible of the westward-fleeing civilians and of his German troops from Soviet hands. During the interval of surrender, 1,800,000 German troops (55 percent of the Army of the East) were transferred into the British–U.S. area of control.